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Religion & Spirituality

Whether you believe in a higher power or not, this forum is dedicated to the topic of religion and spirituality. We live in a diverse world with different morals and ideas when it comes to our beliefs, so come in and share your thoughts.

Fact or not, militant atheism is not the subject of the thread. The subject is whether atheism will be more widespread than theism in 2038, and the fact is you derailed from post 1 to make this about militancy, which is what you always do.

"All of our behavior can be traced to biological events about which we have no conscious knowledge: this has always suggested that free will is an illusion."

I didn't derail anything. I brought up why I thought the word defeated was used, and explained why. I also talked about other Godless societies, and how standard of living under them , was deplorable by wiping out religions. Your artical stated it would be better, and history prooves otherwise. I can not help it for seeing a movement against religions, based on atheistic afronts twards all religions, which is religious persecution, which in itself is militant even if non-violent, is not the root of it.

humphreys wrote:Countries with the best standard of living are turning atheist. That shift offers a glimpse into the world's future.

Religious people are annoyed by claims that belief in God will go the way of horse transportation, and for much the same reason, specifically an improved standard of living.

The view that religious belief will give way to atheism is known as the secularization thesis. The specific version that I favor (1) is known as the existential security hypothesis. The basic idea is that as people become more affluent, they are less worried about lacking for basic necessities, or dying early from violence or disease. In other words they are secure in their own existence. They do not feel the need to appeal to supernatural entities to calm their fears and insecurities.

The farther we get from the time Jesus was among us, the more increasingly difficult it will become for our civilization to hold fast to our faith. And that's just Christianity for example. I guess Muslims have the most recent events to look back upon so I guess looking at it from a purely mathematical perspective, Islam would be the last religion to flicker out.

However, if there really is something to what you believe, then time cannot diminish your faith completely. My transformation experience seems like forever ago, and it seems like just yesterday. Sometimes it seems like a dream.

Have you ever noticed that the more that time separates you from a powerful dream sequence, the less you remember about it and less you care about it?

Every one who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the Universe-a spirit vastly superior to that of man. - Albert Einstein

The best example I can think of for a purely Atheistic society is Amsterdam. I don't know about other countries but I can tell you America is not ready--and won't be in 30 years either--to embrace that kind of lifestyle.

Every one who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the Universe-a spirit vastly superior to that of man. - Albert Einstein

And lastly; the bible speaks about this very subject in much, much detail; the idea is that the more affluent one becomes, the less they call upon God or feel a need for God. There is some truth to that but it's not like once your basic needs are taken care of that your problems go away. In fact, your problems become greater and weightier. It's the main reason Jesus beseeches us all to shun wealth and possessions.

The more wealth you have, the less you call upon God, and the greater your problems become. The fact that the OP is saying people are becoming more affluent and moving farther away from God only vindicates the teachings of the bible. Evidence in support of Atheism would be that society is much healthier, peaceful, and happy today than ever before. Some--maybe Humphreys himself--would argue in favor of that, while many others--me included--would argue against it.

Every one who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the Universe-a spirit vastly superior to that of man. - Albert Einstein

Truth is not a popularity contest anyway so it doesn't matter if Christianity is the popular belief or if atheist is the popular belief.

I agree with this position and it is also the Bible position. For Truth is the name, among many names, of Jesus the Christ for Remission of Sins. And it is never...the position of the majority anywhere.

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